S.C. deputy filmed slamming teen girl out of desk, dragging her away

He was fired or will be very soon.

Sheriff to Announce South Carolina Deputy Ben Fields to Be Fired: Sources

 

If the cop gets fired, I'll bet he wins a lawsuit or gets a settlement.

 

No. I would simply say "you're grounded" and boy howdy that would get her attention. And I'd walk away smugly knowing that I solve problems without resorting to violence.*

That's where everything broke down here. All the administrator had to do was say, "You're suspended" -- actually, he'd need to use the declarum suspendus charm -- and everything would have been just hunky-dory. That girl would have, at that point, got up out of her desk and walked calmly away. None of this would have been necessary and the rest of the class could have gotten back to its dick pics and fail videos.



*Of course all of this re: my teenage daughter is nonsense, because she'd never behave that way. To date she has been a dream child. But if she did start acting that way, she'd probably wind up with bruises on her arms from me dragging her ass out of there. And if someone were videoing it, I'd look bad. A six-foot, 230-pounder dragging a tall, slender, pale (and don't forget screaming) blonde awkwardly out of the library. So I guess that makes me a child abuser in your eyes -- after all, the only thing that's stopped me is that I haven't had the opportunity.

 

So we're giving police officers more authority to discipline our kids than parents now?

Make no mistake, this was not a child breaking the law. This was a student who needed to be disciplined. Giving anyone - including a police officer - the authority to throw a child across the room when he or she poses no physical threat to those around them is a gross dereliction of our duty to protect our children and a sad statement about how we not only tolerate violence, but encourage it.

 

Jesus, your kids sound like animals. My daughter has normalized social skills, this situation wouldn't be an issue.

 

Have you not read up on what used to be par for the course for school discipline? Parents have traditionally given others in society vast leeway to discipline their kids if they get out of line.

 

Hold on a second. I never said the SRO has the authority to do what he did in this specific case. We don't know if he did or not. The situation could have demanded it, or it may not have. I'll need more than a random, anonymous Instagram user's account of things to make that determination.

But police officers are granted much more latitude for use of force than parents are. That's not news. If I drenched my kid in pepper spray because he refused to leave his seat, I could get charged with child abuse. But a cop is allowed to do that, and has the latitude to make the judgement call.

 

Any sign the girl in question has a father that's around?

 

When she disobeyed the SRO's order to get up and leave (which came, mind you, after multiple other orders from others in authority) it was.

Or are you one of those types who'll write it as "She got thrown across the room for playing with her smartphone!"?

 

She would have gotten up from her desk when the period ended, right? At that point, she could have been escorted to the principal's office without a WWE match breaking out. And, if she refused in the hallway, the officer would have had a much easier time handcuffing her and escorting her to the office, without having to extract her from the desk. The student could have then been prevented from entering the premises the next day, and the day after, and the day after - all without resorting to violence. Doesn't that sound more conducive to a learning environment than literally throwing a teenage girl across the classroom?

This isn't some Pollyanna fantasy. It happens every day in most high schools across the country, where SROs don't throw their students across the room.

As for your handling of the hypothetical situation with your daughter, it sounds like your answer is no, you would not handle the situation as this SRO did.

 

Right. At this point that's all we have, so I should point out that all of my arguments have rested on the assumption that user's account is largely accurate.

 

Next teacher of the year, or some guy who is talking out of his rear? Probably never had to put his hands on his misbehaving child to send him or her to their room. The child went all by themselves, like all kids do.